Brian Greenspun on former President Clinton’s call to overcome fear and vote for change

Sunday, Nov. 5, 2006 | 8:04 a.m.

I really want to talk about China.

I have just come back from a most remarkable trip to China. You know, the country everybody's talking about with its incredible economy, globally suffocating environmental challenges, envy-producing skylines and all-around effort to enter the modern world.

There is so much to talk about and share. But, silly me. Having been gone most of the month of October, it almost slipped my mind that there was an election going on in Nevada and across the country. An election of some note, I might add.

So, China will have to wait - it is a very patient country, even if we are not - so a few more days before enlightenment shouldn't be a problem. That's because there is an election in two days, and I have to give my two cents because - that's what I do.

Last Thursday I went to visit with a college classmate who came to help rally the troops on behalf of Sen. Dina Titus and other Democrats who, so far, have defied the odds and caused their Republican opponents a good deal of consternation. I always enjoy listening to former President Bill Clinton because he is one of the few people in this country - in and out of politics - who has the brainpower and capacity to deal with myriad difficult issues and make sense out of them. He couples that talent with an uncanny ability to explain to those of us Americans who want to pay attention to such things what the issues are all about.

Lest I forget, he can be partisan. But, as a former president of the United States, I have watched him rise to a different level of statesmanship, one in which partisan politics is always a player but not a determinant in the ultimate question: What is best for America?

During his address to the faithful on Thursday, he spoke about a fear that many voters across the country seem to have in common. He explained it as having the ability to swim and the confidence that you won't drown in the deep end of the pool, but a fear once you are on the diving board that if you actually dive or jump into the pool, what you know may not help.

It is an irrational fear, to be sure, but a real one. It is that same fear, he said, that seems to be gripping many Nevada voters who have been used to voting Republican for the past decade or so and who no longer have confidence - at best - in the current lawmakers in the Senate and the House to do the jobs they were hired on to do.

I say the last decade or so because, as those of us who were here 14 years ago remember - by the way almost half of Southern Nevadans weren't here in 1992 - Nevada helped elect a Democrat as president for the first time in decades. The result of that election of Bill Clinton was a robust economy, incredible job growth, relative world peace and a White House that stayed fully engaged on every issue and involved in every problem from the first day of the term until the very last.

There were charges swirling around the Clinton administration to be sure, but none of them sounded like tone-deafness, arrogance, incompetence, insensitivity, uncompassionate conservatism or anything like we hear every single day about the George W. Bush White House. Most importantly, President Clinton worked tirelessly to avoid shooting wars and quagmires and never took us into war without a clue of how we were going to get out!

That may be harsh, but it is true.

So it is not surprising that so many Americans want change. They believe that the other guy - whoever that is - may do better and certainly can't do any worse because, in almost all cases, a change would mean that a rubber-stamping Republican congressman, or other state or federal official who could have said stop and didn't, will get the boot.

That's the mood the entire country is in and it is no different in Nevada. These elections should be very close and if they swing toward incumbent Republicans it will only be because the voters just can't get over that fear of pulling the lever for a Democrat who gives hope and promise for better, more independent decisions, although no guarantees.

Somewhere along the way in this democracy, we have come to expect guarantees - that politicians will always do what they say, that expectations will always be met, and that the differences among those running for office are real and not just marketing slogans designed to fool us on our way into the voting booth.

What we learned is that it is easy to disappoint us and all too often we get the kind of leadership we deserve.

The Las Vegas Sun has made a number of recommendations, together with our reasons, over the past couple of weeks. We are republishing them all today in a handy "tear me out and take me to the polls" format. They are based on the belief that voters who are disappointed, discouraged, angry and fed up with the current crop of political leadership will have some fresh candidates and solid reasons to cast a vote in their favor.

Many decades ago, one of our greatest presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, told a nation that was reeling from the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that the "only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We know how this great nation responded. Thankfully.

Today, we have big challenges around the world. We are mired in Iraq, befuddled by Iran, played with by North Korea and generally lost when it comes to every ally we once had in this world. And what are we told that we need to do?

Not overcome our fear but succumb to it.

That is not what this country stands for and not the basis for continued greatness. So, as President Clinton said this past week, voting for the change this country needs and most Americans know in their hearts they want, is just a matter of overcoming a little fear.

It ain't easy to deal with irrational fears, but it has been done by countless generations of Americans before us and it has served this country well every time.

We have young men and women dying in Iraq every day so that we can vote this Tuesday. If they are afraid, they sure aren't showing it nor giving in to it. The least we can do in their names, when we go to finally vote for change, is not give in to our fears.

It is time to jump off that diving board. We'll be swimming in no time.

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